Letter to the editor, Huntsville Times, Monday June 28

BP killed 11 workers and lied about how much oil was leaking from the beginning. Yet, Congressman Joe Barton, the top Republican on the committee overseeing the oil spill and its aftermath, delivered a personal apology to BP.

He said the $20 billion fund President Obama directed BP to establish for victims of the oil disaster was a "tragedy in the first proportion." Barton actually apologized to BP and called it "a shake-down." (Editor's note: He later apologized for the apology)

Other Republicans echoed this idiocy. John Cornyn said he "shares" Barton's concern. Michele Bachmann said BP shouldn't agree to be "fleeced." She talked about our government using BP as a "piggy bank for the government."

Rush Limbaugh called it a "bailout." Tom Price, head of the 114-member Republican Study Committee, followed Barton's lead and said "BP's reported willingness to go along with the White House's new fund suggests that the Obama administration is hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics."

Barton has received more than $300,000 from the oil and gas industry since 2007. If the Republicans win the mid-term elections, Barton will be chairman of the committee overseeing the oil and gas industry.

BP and the other oil giants once again will have bought their brand of justice.